GSS Delivers Ultra-Smooth Flooring for Brush Transformers’ Heavy-Duty Needs
We recently completed a fascinating project for Brush Transformers in Loughborough, helping them get a brand new section of industrial flooring in their main production facility. The goal? To create the perfect surface for their new air mover, designed to effortlessly glide heavy, newly assembled transformers – each weighing up to an incredible 130 tons!
The Challenge: Extreme Flatness for Air Skates
This wasn’t just any factory flooring job. The new floor needed to be exceptionally flat and smooth, meeting a critical tolerance of +/- 1mm over any 3m length. Imagine trying to achieve that kind of precision – it’s like creating a giant, perfectly level sheet of glass! This extreme flatness is essential for the air mover to work correctly, allowing those massive transformers to literally hover just 2mm above the floor as they’re moved.
Prepping for Precision: From Old to New
To start, we carefully removed the old floor and concrete down to a depth of 50mm using specialized ride-on floor planers. Once the substrate was exposed, we shot blasted it and then primed it with a resin DPM primer to ensure a strong, moisture-resistant base.
Next, we pumped in a 40mm base layer of a modified, rapid-curing cement-based levelling screed. Once this cured, we re-primed the area and laid a reinforcing fabric mesh into the wet primer. This clever step helps prevent any potential cracking from the underlying concrete from showing through the final floor – a crucial detail for such a demanding application.
The Final Touch: Ultra-Smooth Finish and Protection
After the base layer and primer were fully cured, we applied a final 10mm layer of a self-smoothing, cement-based levelling screed. This was pumped in, creating a perfectly seamless finish flush with the surrounding floor.
To protect this high-performance surface, we then applied three coats of a water-based epoxy resin. We also expertly re-cut the expansion joints through the new screed and filled them with a flexible polysulphide joint compound, allowing for natural movement without cracking. To complete the project, we applied crisp line markings around the outside of the new floor.
The best part? Within just 24 hours of us finishing, the air skate was successfully moving transformers from one end of the workshop to the other, gliding smoothly as planned! It’s incredibly rewarding to see our high-performance flooring directly enable such vital operations for our clients.
Do you have a specialized flooring challenge for your facility? We’d love to hear about it!
